[regawdless]

...fewer and fewer people are buying Xboxes.

The tech giant announced in its third-quarter earnings that Xbox Series X and S revenue is down 30 percent year-over-year. It blamed the nosedive on a "lower volume of consoles sold" during the start of 2024. If that sounds like a repeat of last year, it's because it is. "Xbox hardware revenue decreased 30% on a strong prior year comparable, driven by lower volume of consoles sold," Microsoft reported back in April 2023.

In February, Grand Theft Auto VI parent company Take-Two claimed in a presentation to investors that there were roughly 77 million "gen 9" consoles in people's homes. It didn't take fans long to do the math and speculate that Microsoft had only sold around 25 million Xbox Series X/S consoles to-date. That puts it ahead of the GameCube but behind the Nintendo 64, at least for now. Given the results this quarter as well, it doesn't seem like Game Pass and Starfield have moved the needle much.

Xbox Console Sales Are Tanking

No wonder Microsoft is exploring bringing its games to PlayStation 5

kotaku.com

Suck it, N64 was teh best!

Seriously though, I knew Xbox had some issues going into this gen but I didn't expect them to be that weak. These sales are concerning. April 2023, year-over-year decrease of 30%, April 2024... again 30% decrease.

 

[CAPTAIN RAINCOAT]

Sales are weak because there has not really been anything to play.....they have fumbled the ball with so many of their studios/exclusives and people that own a gaming pc really dont see a need in owning an xbox
the market has shifted more towards mobile/pc.....covid really supercharged that

Sony may look great in comparison but they are simply recycling their old games and unless they invest more money into their studios their next gen console may be their xbox moment
Stellar blade brings the total number of ps5 only games to 8....this is laughably bad considering they have said we are not going to see anything from first party until 2026

The n64 was a pretty good console (better than the gamecube) but it was really outshined by the ps1 and the amount of money they were throwing at developers to bring games to it
cds were seen as the hottest thing to have around the time and if im being brutally honest the n64 did look and feel like a kids console which around that time the kids who grew up on SNES/SEGA consoles were
coming into their late teens and wanted something more mature...which the ps1 had.

The n64 was probably the last social multiplayer console though...getting 4 friends around to play goldeneye/smash bros or nwo revenge were some of my fondest memories

 

[teezzy]

They literally told people "we dont care if you buy the hardware"

 

[TaySan]

MS whole message was they don't care if you buy their system or not. Now it's all about Gamepass subscription numbers

 

[teezzy]

MS whole message was they don't care if you buy their system or not. Now it's all about Gamepass subscription numbers

What i find even more interesting is MS now being open to the idea of allowing other stores and marketplaces on Xbox in addition to their theoretical Steam Deck clones.

Its interesting to see a brand as large as Xbox struggling this badly. Theyre going to be getting very creative soon. That's a good thing

 

[teezzy]

Sales are weak because there has not really been anything to play.....they have fumbled the ball with so many of their studios/exclusives and people that own a gaming pc really dont see a need in owning an xbox
the market has shifted more towards mobile/pc.....covid really supercharged that

Sony may look great in comparison but they are simply recycling their old games and unless they invest more money into their studios their next gen console may be their xbox moment
Stellar blade brings the total number of ps5 only games to 8....this is laughably bad considering they have said we are not going to see anything from first party until 2026

I recently pushed a coworker into getting a PS5 over a Series X simply because "even the Xbox exclusives are making their way to PS5". He was undecided prior

 

[Franky Family]

Theyre going to be getting very creative soon.

 

[Franky Family]

Been waiting for them to be creative for almost fifteen years bruh

 

[teezzy]

Been waiting for them to be creative for almost fifteen years bruh

And they have been. What do you consider GamePass?

Desperate times call for desperate measures. History has shown these companies are always at their worst when theyre overly successful and cocky.

Microsoft is about to start playing very fast and loose with the definition of what a "console" is.

 

[HeresJohnny]

And Phil Spencer still has a job.

 

[HeresJohnny]

Microsoft is about to start playing very fast and loose with the definition of what a "console" is.

That's their whole problem. They told the market that it didnt matter if people bought hardware or not and the market obliged. This is a management problem, pure and simple.

They need to stop being fucking cute and tell people they want to be their only system and then start earning them, one sale at a time.

 

[teezzy]

That's their whole problem. They told the market that it didnt matter if people bought hardware or not and the market obliged. This is a management problem, pure and simple.

They need to stop being fucking cute and tell people they want to be their only system and then start earning them, one sale at a time.

I dont disagree whatsoever. The waters are murky.

Your average Xbox player isnt some nerd on a forum however. They have a Series X or S, a GamePass sub, and are eating good

Declining sales, GamePass, recent huge acquisitions, allowing their competition to access their exclusives, whispers of a handheld... they're about to get very weird.

 

[bork]

I dont disagree whatsoever. The waters are murky.

Your average Xbox player isnt some nerd on a forum however. They have a Series X or S, a GamePass sub, and are eating good

Declining sales, GamePass, recent huge acquisitions, allowing their competition to access their exclusives, whispers of a handheld... they're about to get very weird.

No wonder you're excited

 

[Franky Family]

And they have been. What do you consider GamePass?

Desperate times call for desperate measures. History has shown these companies are always at their worst when theyre overly successful and cocky.

Microsoft is about to start playing very fast and loose with the definition of what a "console" is.

GamePass is lame, mainly because Xbox has been atrociously incompetent from the last couple years of Xbox 360's time forward to present. It doesn't matter much what they do with their consoles and everything beneath that if they're not going to be making impressive games anytime soon. Who will buy their console if there's nothing but uninspired games being made by a woman no it's a man no... a shemale with two cocks and a pussy stapled to xir pelvis. Xbox is done boy. It's shriveled up faster than Bill Gates' chode during a Wim Hof ice bath. Trump 2024

"

 

[Cravis]

But look at all the diversity hires! We got a womanz lead developing Halo!!!! Look at all the Pride flags we put in our games!!!! DiVeRsITY is our strength something something

Spoiler

Go fuck yourself Microsoft

 

[Eneru]

They acquired so many studios. With so many of them I imagined they will release one banger at least once in a quarter. But their software lineup is drier than the Sahara. How is that even possible?!

Imho Triple A has to die. Sony Nintendo and MS can go back to PS2 graphics and release some fun games instead of doing this Hollywood type shit.

So the decline is 100% deserved.

 

[CAPTAIN RAINCOAT]

I recently pushed a coworker into getting a PS5 over a Series X simply because "even the Xbox exclusives are making their way to PS5". He was undecided prior

i would not buy a xbox over a ps5 now either......gamepass being on pc is actually pretty good and if sony actually gets competent developers porting their first party games to pc you will never need to own a console at all

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Yep, consoles manufacturers made their hardware obsolete this gen.
I don't see anything else than PC in the future.

 

[Grinchy]

Man, I love the look of the N64. So curvy.

You've got to wonder where the Xbox platform goes if they aren't selling Xbox consoles. Maybe they'll do a Xbox Deck or something.

 

[skeem]

So many reasons.

I feel they haven't had a successful moment since the first half of the 360s era.

They have continuously pressed that games are not enough. Forcing kinect on their customer base, treating their consoles as a dedicated media pass through device.

So slow to release games and generally poor on the creativity side when they do. I skipped an entire gen and the only thing I found that I enjoyed when I returned was Forza - the game that replaced an even better car racing series for MS.

Now the narrative is that Microsoft doesn't need console sales. I don't think they have done enough to combat this. It is all you hear when Xbox sales are mentioned. That they care more about a game pass sub than anything else.

By this point I am of the opinion that the only issue of importance with Xbox is Microsoft itself. If you put the entire Xbox brand in a different companies control I think you'd have a better product.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Nothing new here really, just confirming that nothing since the ABK acquisition has reversed the deceleration trend.

Also 25 million is a massive overestimate.

About 3 months ago we got enough data out of various sources, both official and leaks, to put the sales at no more than 20m.

Frankly it is impossible given their previous pace of sales for them to have hit the 23m needed to have overtaken GameCube, let alone with an additional 30% decline this year. They'll be lucky to have made it to that by the end of this year.

They flat out are not going to make N64 numbers lifetime. There is a far greater chance that the XSS/X ends up the lowest selling Xbox of all time, below the 28 odd million the original Xbox sold.

 

[IrishWhiskey]

Xbox is the embodiment or cautionary tale of what happens when suits take over from passionate knowledgable people.

The first half of the 360 lifespan back when they had all of the OG Xbox veterans and Peter Moore was incredible. They were hungry, they mostly understood the market and they really tried to innovate with the online play. They courted Japan as much as humanly possible which definitely paid dividends for the worldwide audience (pity Japan still ignored them but what can you do..).

Being first to the market was a brilliant strategic move despite the RRoD that their rushing caused. They caught Sony with their pants down, while at the same time Sony were arrogant and assumed they would simply inherit the PS2 market on brand name alone.

But then the suits slowly but surely pushed out all of the gaming people, all of the people who made the Xbox brand and the Xbox360 into a roaring success. I don't know all of the internal MS politics that goes on behind the scenes but you can see the terrible MBA tier decisions made by money men with no idea how the gaming market worked or why their console was successful.

You had the trippling down on Kinect which nobody asked for and released pretty much after the Wii fad had died down with the mainstream. They let Bungie go and bought Gears instead of just contracting Epic for exclusivity and then they tried to just factory line release Forza, Halo and Gears with no creative love or passion behind the projects, just "we need our X brand to release by Y timeframe, this will sell well and make our line on a graph go up!"

They stopped trying to court Japanese developers or fund exclusives and their first party output cratered into souless yearly "big 3" releases mostly by people not involved with the IP before and without the talent of the original developers (Halo, Gears). This pretty much killed both Halo and Gears franchises.

I mean say what you will about Gears and maybe the gameplay being stale or the multiplayer too insular for the mainstream, but motherfucking Halo was one of the biggest gaming franchises on Earth and their treatment of it was abysmal.

Then that is not even touching on the horrendous Xbox One debacle. They clown suits with no idea how to run a gaming company decided they would quadruple down on Kinect and force include it with every console as if that was something gamers actually wanted and wanted to turn the console into a fancy DVR/Media center, not to mention the always online DRM stuff and the fact that they wasted money on all of that shit while Sony just added better specs to their console leaving Xbox One lagging behind and losing the hardcore gamer.

I mean honestly, given how badly Sony fucked up the first half of the PS3's life and how well Xbox360 was handled for the first part of its life that generation/hardcore+mainstream audience momentum was theirs to lose. They should have knocked it out of the park and set up the next Xbox as a huge success. But already prior to Xbox One failure we saw exclusive titles, Japanese games and first party all kind of dry up in the tail end of the 360's life, while Sony were working hard to court gamers back to their PS3.

The tail end 360 failures plus the Xbox One blunder really meant that MS lost their audience and it looks like they never really recovered it. With current consoles we just see the continuation of this trend while clueless MS suits and execs still don't understand the market.

"Why don't we uhh... make the Netflix of gaming and release it on PC as well! That is sure to improve our brand and console sales! Plus it helps our datacenter revenue as we become our own customer!"

"Why don't we just buy up all of the biggest publishers? Gamers will HAVE to like us then! Plus we have a large content stream for our Netflix of gaming! Who cares if we pay 3 times the company's actual value!",

"Why don't we just release our own games on other consoles because....uh...something something profit??"

TLR - Souless MBA money men suits took over and kicked out the people who made the Xbox 360 a success and understood the market. Since then they have blundered their way towards the path of irrelevance.

 

[BlackDow]

Sales are weak because there has not really been anything to play.....they have fumbled the ball with so many of their studios/exclusives and people that own a gaming pc really dont see a need in owning an xbox
the market has shifted more towards mobile/pc.....covid really supercharged that

Sony may look great in comparison but they are simply recycling their old games and unless they invest more money into their studios their next gen console may be their xbox moment
Stellar blade brings the total number of ps5 only games to 8....this is laughably bad considering they have said we are not going to see anything from first party until 2026

The n64 was a pretty good console (better than the gamecube) but it was really outshined by the ps1 and the amount of money they were throwing at developers to bring games to it
cds were seen as the hottest thing to have around the time and if im being brutally honest the n64 did look and feel like a kids console which around that time the kids who grew up on SNES/SEGA consoles were
coming into their late teens and wanted something more mature...which the ps1 had.

The n64 was probably the last social multiplayer console though...getting 4 friends around to play goldeneye/smash bros or nwo revenge were some of my fondest memories

The GameCube and Wii had four player set up too.

I'm happy Nintendo have been kicking ass with the switch. But I've been a fan too long to know that they suck with maintaining the momentum at times.

I wonder if MS will go the way of SEGA?

 

[Zog]

Xbox consoles are done. Gamepass was a desperate move and it's not sustainable. I have been saying this for awhile.

 

[Stilton Disco]

The GameCube and Wii had four player set up too.

I'm happy Nintendo have been kicking ass with the switch. But I've been a fan too long to know that they suck with maintaining the momentum at times.

I wonder if MS will go the way of SEGA?

I don't think they have a choice.

Well, ok, they do, but it's between going the Sega route or ditching gaming entirely.

There's simply no road back to being a serious force in the hardware market anymore. They've burnt too many bridges and would burn too many more fixing the problems they've created.

So no matter what they do, hardware is just going to continue to dwindle down to the point they're at WiiU or worse sales, and at that point the return on investment proposition starts to become very questionable. Making consoles is not cheap, particularly when they're playing the value for money, loss leading strategy, which they have to if they don't want to be simply mulched by Nintendo, PlayStation and now Valve.

So the question is do they want to be a major AAA third party publisher?

I'm not sure they do quite honestly.

They're not in any other media sphere, they've not got the expertise or the experience to compete in that space, and they're not going to have the internal backing of other MS execs that will see every cent put into Xbox Games as money that isn't going to their overall PC software bread and butter.

Honestly, there is a major shakeup coming for Xbox. I'd say studio closures and further mass layoffs are inevitable, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see assets getting sold off, or just written off as a bad investment entirely.

If I had to make a prediction for the long term, I think Xbox as a whole is going to be spun off either as it's own separate business or sold to another big player in the industry. Amazon, Facebook or Google would be the most likely, Apple too as an outside wildcard.

I don't think Xbox will just be shelved as a product and everything sold off at firesale prices, but I just don't think MS is going to want to be left supporting a game publishing wing, as a consultation prize for failing in their objective to dominate the home entertainment hardware market.

 

[teezzy]

I don't think they have a choice.

Well, ok, they do, but it's between going the Sega route or ditching gaming entirely.

There's simply no road back to being a serious force in the hardware market anymore. They've burnt too many bridges and would burn too many more fixing the problems they've created.

So no matter what they do, hardware is just going to continue to dwindle down to the point they're at WiiU or worse sales, and at that point the return on investment proposition starts to become very questionable. Making consoles is not cheap, particularly when they're playing the value for money, loss leading strategy, which they have to if they don't want to be simply mulched by Nintendo, PlayStation and now Valve.

So the question is do they want to be a major AAA third party publisher?

I'm not sure they do quite honestly.

They're not in any other media sphere, they've not got the expertise or the experience to compete in that space, and they're not going to have the internal backing of other MS execs that will see every cent put into Xbox Games as money that isn't going to their overall PC software bread and butter.

Honestly, there is a major shakeup coming for Xbox. I'd say studio closures and further mass layoffs are inevitable, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see assets getting sold off, or just written off as a bad investment entirely.

If I had to make a prediction for the long term, I think Xbox as a whole is going to be spun off either as it's own separate business or sold to another big player in the industry. Amazon, Facebook or Google would be the most likely, Apple too as an outside wildcard.

I don't think Xbox will just be shelved as a product and everything sold off at firesale prices, but I just don't think MS is going to want to be left supporting a game publishing wing, as a consultation prize for failing in their objective to dominate the home entertainment hardware market.

 

[Grisham]

 

[Stilton Disco]

Linus's ignorance of console gaming market issues usually grates, but dear fucking god does he know absolutely fuck all about handheld gaming. He says SO MUCH that's just flat out wrong I wanted to shout at the screen.

But just making Xbox a PC would kill their ability to have a competitive, console priced hardware.

You can only pull off that loss leading approach with a walled garden that ensures all purchases made on the hardware equate to more revenue that offsets the initial costs. It's how the Steam Deck is able to absolutely body every other PC Handheld on the price to performance front.

Putting Steam, Epic and GOG on it would kill that guaranteed revenue and make every Xbox sold a permanent loss for MS.

Even adding it as an option that only enthusiasts would be able to undertake would be a bad move, as they'd be losing the whales that spend most of the money that is currently all that's standing between their current really bad losses and a total fucking catastrophe.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Xbox is cancer and deserves what it gets.

Theyre going to be getting very creative soon. That's a good thing

cOmPeTiTiOn Is GoOd!!

The further Microsoft backs itself into a corner, the more confident Xbox fans feel. Somehow. Cancelling Fable, cancelling Blizzard's Odyssey, buying up brands and then laying off workers... don't you haters realize this actually means Xbox is on the rise and is about to release some incredible games?! Just you wait! You'll see and you'll be sorry for making fun of m'lady Xbox.

 

[ExpandKong]

We won Nintenbros

 

[BlackDow]

We won Nintenbros

Playing the long game.

 

[teezzy]

Xbox is cancer and deserves what it gets.



cOmPeTiTiOn Is GoOd!!

The further Microsoft backs itself into a corner, the more confident Xbox fans feel. Somehow. Cancelling Fable, cancelling Blizzard's Odyssey, buying up brands and then laying off workers... don't you haters realize this actually means Xbox is on the rise and is about to release some incredible games?! Just you wait! You'll see and you'll be sorry for making fun of m'lady Xbox.

... they cancelled Fable?

 

[teezzy]

People were laughing at Nintendo during Wii U era also. A console market of only Playstation 6 and Super Switch U is the most boring thing tbh. Xbox just needs to find a reason to exist and theyre floundering

 

[DonDonDonPata]

... they cancelled Fable?

Forever ago

Fable Legends - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But don't worry, they're working on a new one with Eidos, which I'm sure totally won't be affected by the Embracer Group split

Xbox just needs to find a reason to exist and theyre floundering

Freudian slip or did you mean "flourishing"?

 

[Chozofication]

Forever ago

Fable Legends - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But don't worry, they're working on a new one with Eidos, which I'm sure totally won't be affected by the Embracer Group split



Freudian slip or did you mean "flourishing"?

Iirc playground games is currently working on fable 4?

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Iirc playground games is currently working on fable 4?

Yes, with Eidos-Montreal.

 

[Chozofication]

People were laughing at Nintendo during Wii U era also. A console market of only Playstation 6 and Super Switch U is the most boring thing tbh. Xbox just needs to find a reason to exist and theyre floundering

Not even remotely comparable situations. Though Wii U was a flop Nintendo remained cash positive and most importantly they treated their IP with respect and still put effort into first party games.

MS has pretty much killed Xbox already.

Yes, with Eidos-Montreal.

Man that does not sound good.

 

[JORMBO]

They forgot to make games. The first few years of the XBSX had next to nothing. Then when they did release games they were not good. Halo Infinite should have been a launch title if they had any brains. But even with extra time to cook it ended up being a dud. I enjoyed Starfield, but can admit it was a bit of a disappointment. Very disjointed with bad writing for something that was labeled "game of the generation". Also throw in you don't need an XB if you already have a PC. I am not suprised sales are bad.

It is crazy they have so many studios and can't release games. I have my XBSX hooked up to my old TV in my gym and use it as a streaming box when I work out. That's how useless the thing is.

I am curious to see what they do next. Do they spin things off and become a third party company and release their stuff on all other platforms? Does MS sell off parts of the gaming division? It would seem odd to sell off everything after buying ACTV/BLIZ.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Not even remotely comparable situations. Though Wii U was a flop Nintendo remained cash positive and most importantly they treated their IP with respect and still put effort into first party games.

MS has pretty much killed Xbox already.

Xbox fans can live without new games, but don't you dare poke a hole in their fanfiction-addled "Xbox is actually an underdog, just you wait and see how they rise from the ashes" mentality. The more Xbox fails, the brighter Xbox's future becomes in the eyes of its fanbase.

Man that does not sound good.

No, it does not.

 

[SpartanN92]

I'm going to preach again.

Phil Spencer should have been fired after Halo 5.

Halo is Xbox and Halo under 343's pathetic tutelage has been a colossal failure. So naturally Xbox is failing and that is the result of Phil Spencer allowing 343 to run amok for a decade. The leadership restructuring at 343 that took place in the fall of 2022 was far too late.
Phil should've cleaned house at 343 after Master Chief Collection and he should have initiated a delay of Halo 5 and a complete reworking of that title for a 2017 launch.
Phil did none of those things and instead allowed 343 to continue bumbling on into the disastrous Halo infinite development.

By the way, do not believe any rumors you hear about the next Halo title being in full development. I have it on good authority that they do not even have level designers on payroll for Infinite multiplayer maps (hence outsourcing to fans/European support studios) let alone for a full title.


Edit: And all of this is without mentioning at all his complete mishandling of Gears of War and Fable as well.
Forza is the only tent pole Xbox franchise that is just as good today as it was when he started.